FAILURE by a company to manage road risk effectively will become as socially unacceptable as drink driving in five years, the RAC claims.

For the last 20 years, the RAC has been advocating an holistic approach to managing the dangers faced by company car and van drivers which means more than educating employees in on-road skills. More recently it has been able to push forward its aims through its subsidiary BSM Fleet Training.

The Government's hard-line attitude towards the number of accidents involving company vehicles has led the Health and Safety Executive to push its workplace safety policies into cars and vans, leading to an increased number of court cases and has contributed to the change. Last year two haulage company directors were convicted on manslaughter charges after one of their drivers fell asleep at the wheel of his vehicle and caused the death of two other motorists in a seven-vehicle pile-up on the M25.

Now, more recently a transport manager for a Lincolnshire-based haulier was jailed for 18-months following a fatal road accident on the M11 involving one of his drivers. He was found guilty of breaches of health and safety regulations, forgery and tachograph offences. The driver was thought to have fallen asleep at the wheel.